


On The Run

by ohhitsanna



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Alpha John, Alpha Scott, Alpha/ Omega War, Alpha/Omega, BAMF Stiles, Blood, Bones Breaking, But Scott Is In Derek's Pack, Cora is Badass, Derek Gives Comfort, Derek Wants To Be A Good Alpha, F/M, Fighting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Stiles, Omega Verse, Omega slaves, Panic Attacks, Protective Derek, Rape/Non-con Elements, Scott Wants To Be A Good Friend, Slave! Stiles, Stiles Pretends To Be A Beta, Stiles is a Little Shit, Violence, War, alpha/beta/omega
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:04:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2457560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohhitsanna/pseuds/ohhitsanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles is in the middle of a ten year war between Alphas and Omegas. The Alphas believed that Omegas were nothing but breeding machines that were only born to spread their legs and produce Cubs for the pack and as such Omegas were enslaved, taken against their wills at young ages to be made into the perfect little Omega slaves, pretty and docile, Stiles despised Alphas, sure there were some Alphas that didn't agree with the others and they are the main reason the Alpha/Omega war had still continued this long. Betas were half and half, half agreed with the Omegas and half agreed with the Alphas. Stiles had long ago accepted that he was an Omega and nothing could change his biology, but that didn't mean he liked it. His father had taught him from the day he was born how to be like a Beta, how he should hold himself, how to control his instincts. Omegas were naturally faster and their senses sharper because of their small size, everything else kind of made up for how small they were, but Stiles had lifted weights from a young age and he could pass for a lithe Beta or a strong Omega. He preferred the Beta. It was safer being a Beta.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WIP, I do not know how long it will take to update this story or if i'll even finish it, please keep that in mind  
> i have a very rough idea of what i want to happen in this, but i have other things that i'm also currently writing. 
> 
> edited on: 11/16/2014
> 
> This is Unbetaed as always, all the mistakes are mine  
> Please read the tags and let me know if i have missed something  
> I will add more tags as the story progresses.

 

Stiles runs the trees a blur of greens and brown as he makes his way through the the thick forest, the ground is wet from the morning dew and mud and leaves are sticking to his bare feet as they pound on the floor, his shoes long since gone, he can feel little cuts biting into his feet and he can feel them closing up as his healing kicks in. He doesn’t know how long he’s been running for, all he knows is that it was Wednesday when he left and he’s seen the sun rise five times since then, so he figures it must be Monday. Stiles pauses for a moment, he can’t hear anything but the sound of his heart beating erratically, but he had made the mistake of thinking he hadn’t been followed before and it nearly cost him his life, he was not going to make the same mistake again. The birds have begun to chirp and he can hear the soft sounds of the other creatures in the forest as they wake up and begin their day, after basking in the warmth of the morning, Stiles decides it’s time to move on, his scent, however faint it must be, doesn’t not need to linger in one place for too long, he paces himself and keeps his ears alerted to any foreign sounds, hopefully he lost the wolves that were following him back at the stream he passed through.

 

Stiles thinks about his plan while he dodges tree limbs and roots, he needs to get to the Southern States, the States known for their Omega refuge towns and Camps. The eighteen year war between Alphas and Omegas is still going as strong as it was when he was a cub. Alphas essentially started the damn thing, well at least in Stiles eyes they did, they believed they were so high and mighty that they could just tell their Omegas what to do, like they were nothing more than breeding bitches who’s sole purpose in life was to present and be bred and produce cubs for the pack, well they weren’t! And once the Omegas began to fight back, the Alphas just enslaved them, forcing them to do as they were told no matter what. Some Alphas, weren’t as pig headed as the rest and it’s thanks to them that the Omegas have even lasted this long in the war, Stiles knows they would have been killed off a long time ago if it wasn’t for the Alphas that actually had a soul. Betas on the other hand, Stiles doesn’t really know what to think of them. They are about half and half, some Betas agree that an Alpha does deserve the right to have their Omega do whatever it is they want, but some agree that an Omega is still it’s own person and as such should have their own rights.

 

Stiles has long since accepted the fact that he is an Omega, the lowest wolf on the totem pole, nothing could change his biology and he was fine with that really he was, but he didn’t necessarily like it. The war had begun one year before he was born and as such, from the moment he was old enough to walk his father had begun teaching him how to act like a Beta. He learned how Betas walk, how they talk, how to control his instincts, since Omegas were naturally faster and had sharper senses, he had to hold them back so no one would ever be the wiser. Stiles, however, was still built like an Omega, small and lithe, so his father had him lifting weights, putting on muscle and gaining a bit of weight so he wouldn’t seem so small and defenseless. He was for all intents and purposes a Beta.

 

 Stiles ponders his life as he runs through a small pond that is in his path, he dives under the shallow water and hopes that this is good enough to mask his scent for a couple more miles. Living with his Dad had begun to become a problem, the Alphas had started to move in on their town, slowly but surely and once they were close by they started to attack the weakest families that had Omegas in them and kidnapping them, most likely to be sold in the Omega Slave trade or if they were deemed good enough, an Alpha would claim them right then and there for their own pack. The thought sickened Stiles, he was lucky though, everyone in their town thought he was a Beta, it was the only reason him and his father hadn’t been one of the first homes picked off. But Stiles couldn’t stand the fact that it could still happen to him, someone could find out about their secret and then he’d be taken away from his dad and possibly raped right in front of his while his dad possibly watched or worse was killed because he tried to save his Omega son. Stiles had to leave, had to leave in order to protect his dad and protect himself. _Get to the Southern States. Get to the Southern States._ That becomes his mantra, that is what keeps his mind on the task at hand.

 

“I’m telling you, you dumbasses! I can hear something that way!” Stiles hears the yelling man long before he sees him, the fact that he’s yelling only helps him and he’s silently thankful for his sensitive hearing. Stiles can only give a rough guess at how far away they are and if he has to put a number on it he would say a mile to a mile and a half, maybe less, maybe more, but that doesn’t matter right now, now he has to worry about them catching his scent and being found out. Quickly he drops to the floor and rolls around on the muddy floor, this will have to do until he can find another source of water. Stiles stays low to the floor as he can manage and begins to make his way around the men, he can hear three distant heartbeats and he uses those to judge where they are going, it’s in the direction that he just came from. He can’t tell what their rank is, but he can only assume the worst and that is that they are Alphas and they are hunting down Omegas for the taking.

 

It’s easy to go unnoticed by the wolves he figures that they haven’t been tracking long because it is really that easy to slip by them, their heads don’t turn in his direction and never once does it seem like they think someone is watching them, but Stiles doesn’t count his chickens before they hatch, he still needs to make it far enough that they won’t be able to follow his scent and then he needs to find a place to lay low for the night and maybe get a few hours of shut eye before he gets started again tomorrow. Once he figures he’s at a safe distance away he sprints away, pushing his legs to run faster and go father even though they are screaming at him, cursing at him is more like it, but still he pushes on, he needs the distance between them, needs the miles to be greater.

 

Stiles has no idea how long he’s been running for but his legs feel like limp noodles and his chest is on _fire_ and moving up and down rapidly. He can’t tell from the position of the sun what time it is, but he figures is must be around one or two, he knows though, that he still needs to keep moving, needs to go just a bit further and find a place to hide out tonight, but his first thoughts are of finding some water to drink, he needs something to cool down his burning body. The river he comes to he finds completely by accident, its a few hours later and the sun is lower in the sky, but not so low that it’s almost dark. The water flowing in front of his is clear and looks so clean and cool, his mouth feels cottony and his throat feels restricting like he can’t get enough air through and it’s all he can do to make his wobbly legs move forward and dunk his head into the water, gasping it in and swallowing it down. The water is a Godsend, it’s refreshing and it doesn’t taste like ass, and isn’t that a good thing because throwing up is the exact opposite of a good thing right now.

 

The water he is lapping up has distracted him enough that he doesn’t notice anyone has come near him until he’s being lifted away by arms around his biceps and the cooling water is gone. Stiles struggles blindly, he’s not yet at running at full speed, but his father always taught him that Betas fight back, so he does. Stiles throw punches wildly, he kicks his feet out, hoping they hit their target. He manages to hit something - someone - and relishes in the hiss of pain as they draw in a breath, but his victory is short lived when he hears a curse and then his head is being slammed against a tree and he can see start behind his eyes as he’s forced to his knees with a swift kick to the back of his legs. His arms are held in a vice grip behind his body and his hair is pulled back in a tight grip, forcing him to bare his neck to these strangers.

 

“Why are you out here?” Stiles looks up to see two men standing before him, all big and intimidating. One of them, this big giant of a man has his arms crossed tightly over his chest and that is definitely an Alpha, but the guy next to him is smaller, but still has lots of muscle is definitely a Beta. Stiles doesn’t answer them, instead he spits in their direction, glaring up at them. “You won’t want to be doing that again.” the big dark man says, his voice deep and gruff. The hold on his hair gets tighter and he grits his teeth to stop a particularly nasty comment from spilling out. Stiles is just really thankful he is not dead yet or worse. “Now answer me this, what rank are you?”

 

“Beta.” Stiles grits out, he’s told himself enough times and believed it enough that his heart doesn’t give his lie away as he speaks. The men in front of him share a look, Stiles does not like that look. There is no way they know any different.

 

“Derek will want to see him,” than man behind him says, his voice is surprisingly light and airy, its nice, well it would be if they were under different circumstances. He releases Stiles hair and he slumps forward a bit, gravity is not his friend. “You know how he feels about people on his land, plus he’s a Beta, Derek likes taking in new Betas.”

 

The other man, the one glaring Stiles down and standing next to the possible Alpha, and the one who Stiles assumes he punched in the face due to the dried blood on the mans shirt, he sneers at Stiles, actually freaking _sneers_! “We don’t even know if he really is a Beta. Show us your eyes!” the man kicks at Stiles thigh and Stiles bares his teeth at the guy, no matter what happens Stiles will never show his eyes, he’s even close to slipping into his wolf form without his eyes glowing bright gold. “Touchy little one isn’t he?”

 

“Omegas don’t fight back the way he did,” the man behind him says, “plus he’s a bit big for an Omega, don’t you think?” Stiles decides he could like the guy behind him. Maybe.

 

“Isaac has a point Jackson.” the big man states, staring at Stiles worriedly, his expression is torn between wanting to take him to this mysterious Derek guy and ripping his throat out right there so he doesn’t have to deal with him anymore. “We should take him to Derek, at least if he doesn’t want to take him on as a Beta he can maybe try to help him so he isn’t wandering around the woods. Let’s go before the Alphas find us.”

 

The Alphas! Stiles thought he was making good distance away from the Alphas, maybe he had been kidding himself, maybe he had just been running around in a huge circle and not even realized it, maybe - fuck! He was so screwed! The man who had been holding his arms behind his back let go of them without warning, causing gravity to take effect and causing him to fall face first into the ground. The man chuckled before hauling him up with little struggle. The Betas looked at him up and down, judging him in their heads. Stiles felt like collapsing, like falling on the floor and taking a very long nap on the muddy floor, it would be nice, he thinks, cool and relaxing. He just hopes wherever they go is close because Stiles doesn’t think he’ll make it that far.

 

“Does he look okay to you?” Stiles can barely hear the curly haired boy voice, and it’s getting farther away the more he talks, he sounds so far away and the world is spinning. Stiles tries to nod his head, tries to tell them that he’s okay, but its not working and he can feel his body slumping towards the earth and then there is nothing but darkness.

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

Stiles world comes back to him in a blur of noises, weird noises, non-forest like voices and it’s starting to freak Stiles out, he can’t manage to open his eyes, they still feel heavy, like they’ve been glued shut and he has to force himself to relax, to calm down and take a moment to figure things out. After a moment he manages to coax his heavy lids open, a room, he is in a room. A white room, sterile room it looks light. Everything is bright and so freaking white. A door rattles open on the other side of the room and his head snaps towards the direction in time to see a man stride in with a face full of concern.

 

Said man is remarkably beautiful, even with his features contorted in a frown, although it kind of makes his look angry, there is no mistaking how beautiful the man is. “You’re up.” He seems thrown off by the events of Stiles awakening and Stiles marvels at the sound of his voice, it’s not as deep as he pictured not as rough either. “Good.”

 

 _Good? Good_! That’s all this man has to say _good_!? Why, why is it so good? A sleeping Omega isn't enough for him? He what, wants to hear Stiles scream, wants to see him cry? Why was is so freaking good! Stiles would rather stay asleep for the rest of his life rather than be around an Alpha he doesn't know. He wants out of this house, this strange place he was dragged in and he wants out now!

 

“You should really control your heartbeat, _wolf_ , you're freaking out some of the younger cubs.” Stiles can’t help it he growls, how dare this wolf, how fucking dare this wolf come in here and tell him he needs to calm down his heart rate! Well if he wasn't taken to some unknown location maybe he wouldn't need to calm his heart rate down! Did this wolf even think of that? Stiles is betting on _no_. “Wolf!” the mans voice is now deep and commanding, Stiles can’t help but snap his head up to look the man in his eyes, but he doesn't bare his neck, that’s an Omega instinct and he must act like a Beta. “Calm down.” The strange wolf’s eyes bleed red and all he can think of is ‘Oh shit this Alpha is going to take him as a slave.’ The red eyes do the exact opposite of calm him down, his heart rate might actually speed up.

 

The door shakes open again and in walks a blond woman with a predatory look in her eyes that is aimed at the man in front of him, but he is greeted with a smile when she turns to face him, Stiles figures after she has glared the man into the floor. The girls eyes are filled with curiosity as she gives Stiles a once over. “Derek is that anyway to treat a guest of ours?” the girl slinks forward, but doesn't move too close. “I’m Erica,” she says and places her hand on his ankle, her palm is warm. “This is Derek, our Alpha. I’m one of his Betas, as were the three men that brought you here. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?” she has this hopeful look on her face that Stiles doesn't want to crush, but why does he think this? He doesn't even know this girl. The look doesn't go away after Stiles hasn't said anything, she just goes on like he’s agreed. “What’s your name?”

 

“Stiles.” They may as well know, plus if he is going to be turned into a slave he’d rather them at least know his name, even if they won’t use it like they should.

 

“Stiles.” she repeats. The smile is wiped off her place and in it’s place a frown, her brow crinkled in confusion as she looks back at her Alpha before turning back to Stiles. “We don’t care for liars here.”

 

“I’m not lying!” he spits out, his claws immediately lengthening any piercing the mattress below him. “Did you hear my heartbeat stutter? Let me repeat this again for you. My. Name. Is. Stiles.”

 

Erica’s eyes narrow, but she doesn’t comment on his blatant rudeness. “Okay then. Any particular reason you were running wild through the woods?”

 

“No.”

 

“Okay. Want to tell us what rank you are then?”

 

“Beta.” he replies easily, his claws return into his skin as he levels a look of pure disdain at the girl. “I told your friends that already.”

 

“Of course you did,” her smile is back and it looks so forced Stiles wants to yell at her. “We just have to make sure, as a precaution, I’m sure you understand.” No, Stiles doesn’t understand, but he doesn’t tell her that. She turns around to look at the man - Derek - who hasn’t for the past however many minutes hasn’t stopped staring at Stiles, it’s little unnerving and if he were a less cautious wolf he might have questioned it already, but he does want to keep his face the way it is. “If you don’t want to tell us why you were running through the woods, that’s fine, you can still stay here for a while. We can set you up with a room.” Stiles glances around the room he is in, there are four beds packed into it, including the one he’s in, they all have clean crisp white sheets and looked untouched. “A different room,” Erica adds upon seeing his face, “this is usually where we keep our injured wolves, but it’s been a while since we’ve had any, except you it seems. Anyways, we could help you get wherever it is you were going, we aren’t miracle workers, but well we can try.” Erica smiles and maybe she isn’t as bad as Stiles thinks.

 

“I need to get to the Southern States.” he says carefully.

 

“The Southern States?” Derek finally speaks, stepping towards Stiles and his bed a bit. “Only Omegas want to go there, what would be your purpose?”

 

“Omegas _and_ Betas who support the cause, which I fully do! I need to get there as soon as possible and I don’t expect you to understand why, _Alpha_!” He growls the last word out like it’s a curse and Derek’s eyes flare red before he is able to snap his control back into place. “You take care of him, Erica.” Derek’s voice is clipped and tight and he’s walking out the door and slamming it for good measure, it actually feels like the room shakes a bit from the force. Who’s scaring the cubs now?

 

“It’s probably not the best decision to anger him. He is allowing you to stay here and help you get wherever it is you are going.” Erica says as she walks over to a huge walk-in closet that Stiles can see is filled to the brim with clothes. She grabs clothes at random and places them at the foot of the bed. It’s a pair of gray sweatpants and a soft looking black cotton shirt. “You stink. Hurry and change into these clothes and then I’ll show you to a room.”

 

Stiles gets changed quickly while Erica steps out of the room, he can hear hushed voices from just outside the door, but he doesn’t want to get used to using his heightened senses so he doesn’t try to eavesdrop on their conversation, most likely they are talking about him, so it’s not like it matters anyways. He opens the door to see Erica and one of his captors leaning into one another like they are sharing the secrets of the world.

 

“Stiles this is Boyd, Boyd I’m sure you remember Stiles.” The dark skinned man - Boyd - was one of the Betas who brought him to this place, he just smirks at Stiles and Stiles thinks he’d take Derek’s scowl over Boyd’s smirk any day, it does not look natural on him, like there is no good reason for him to be _smirking._

 

“How could I forget him,” the man chuckles a bit, “He punched Jackson square in the nose, he made him bleed and everything. Best day ever.”

 

The predatory look is back in Erica’s eyes as she looks at Stiles. “I would have paid to see that, think you can do it again?” Erica cackles as Stiles face no doubt shows arrange of emotions, but yet can’t seem to settle on one long enough to form a retort back. “Come on, your room is just a few doors down.” Erica and Boyd lead him into the room at the end of the hall. The room is smaller than the last one he was in, but still very spacious and it’s definitely bigger than the one he had back at home with his dad. The air smells stale and unlived in and it makes his nose wrinkle up, the bed has beautiful navy blue sheets on it and the fluffiest pillows he has ever seen in his life! From his place just inside the door he can see a bathroom off to the side of the room and on the other side a walk-in closet like the last room had.

 

“I - this can’t be my room.” Stiles walks towards the bed, his fingers sliding against the cool material of the sheets, and what - is that silk? The Gods have been good to this pack, still it’s too much, this must be some sort of mistake there is no way this room is his, maybe this is just to lure him into a false sense of security.

 

From the corner of his eye he can see Boyd and Erica share a look, it’s never good when people do that, “Uh, yeah it is. Derek has a lot of unused rooms in the house, well it’s more like a mansion than anything, but I’m not complaining.” she shrugs and Boyd just stares at Stiles like he’s slightly mental, maybe he is. “You can stay up here as long as you want, but lunch will be served soon.”

 

Lunch, he hadn’t realized how hungry he’s been, now that food has been mentioned he can hears his stomach growl with a fierce need. Wait, lunch, it had been past lunch time when he blackout, that much he remembers. How long had he been out for? “What uhm, what day is it?”

 

Erica gives him a sort of confused puppy look before answering. “It’s Thursday, you’ve been out for a few days, some of the wolves thought you’d never wake up, but Derek has been pain sucking you since you got here, so that helped.” Erica shrugs again, like a stranger wolf leeching your pain isn’t such a weird occurrence. Nobody has ever pain sucked him before, not even his own father, now some weird wolf was doing it while he was knocked out and it’s just fine and dandy? “Okay Stiles, well come down whenever.” she says it like Stiles isn’t about to have a breakdown.

 

A weight seems to be lifted once the pair of them walk out of the room, Stiles hadn’t noticed it before but being around unknown wolves had kept his body strung tightly together as if anticipating an attack. He lets out a breath, his body relaxing a bit. The room is pretty bare except for the bed and the two end tables beside it, nothing too fancy, the closest holds more of the same sweats and shirts he’s been given and the bathroom only holds the bare necessities. Stiles sits on the end of the bed after rummaging through everything, he doesn’t know what he expected to find, but whatever it was it wasn’t there.

 

If he could convince these wolves that he’s a Beta long enough, they just might help him to the Southern States, everything would be okay and he would be safe once he got there. But if he couldn’t convince them well he might as well - nope. Stiles pushes those thoughts away forcefully, there is no need to start thinking the worst, he has to stay focused on getting out. The day comes and goes and when Stiles looks outside the moon in hanging up in the sky, shining down on him. He tries not to think anymore, he just wants sleep to overtake him so he doesn’t have to worry about his pesky thoughts. It’s been a long day, hopefully tomorrow will be better and he can come up with a plan on just how he needs to get to the Southern States.

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

A knock on the door startles him awake, but he jerks so hard from the sound that he ends up falling off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thump and then the door is exploding open! Derek is standing in a fighting stance, claws extended, fangs out and eyes glowing ruby red. Erica and the curly haired boy from the other day are watching their Alpha with curiosity. “What the actual fuck, man!” Stiles yells once he gets his bearings straight. He yanks the blanket off the bed and onto the floor so that it covers his body up because he had only worn his think pair of boxers to bed last night. “Is breaking down doors a hobby of yours or something?”

 

Derek’s stance relaxes as he realizes Stiles is in no danger, his claws and fangs are away, but his eyes are still burning red and _that_ should not be giving Stiles dick any reasons to start acting up, Derek’s eyes are still scanning the room though like he’s waiting for someone to spring out of the closet and yell surprise! “I heard a noise.” Is his only explanation for his actions. “Breakfast is going to be served soon and you need to eat since you didn't yesterday. I will not have you getting sick because you can't take care of yourself." He turned to the two Betas behind him. “Erica, Isaac, I trust you can handle getting him down to the dining room?” Without waiting for an answer he walks away, leaving his two people standing in Stiles’ doorway with matching expressions of shock.

 

“Close the door!” Stiles yells when Derek’s lackeys just stand there looking like fish out of water. Isaac seems to snap out of his trance faster than Erica because he shuffles his feet quickly towards the door and closes it softly. Once he’s sure the coast is clear Stiles stands and stretches his muscles popping, he feels relaxed, his sleep the night before was the best he’s hand in a long time and even Stiles can’t deny how amazing that bed feels under his body. The scalding hot shower he takes is even, quite possibly, better than the bed had been and Stiles is amazed at the dirt that flows off of his body. He feels amazing once the shower is done and he slips into a clean pair of sweats and another black shirt. Stiles needs to talk to Derek about his wardrobe choices, they're a little too bland for his liking.

 

The house is quiet when Stiles steps out of his room, he can hear people talking faintly, but that’s it, no one’s moving around, no one’s outside, no one’s taking a bath. It’s a bit unnerving for Stiles and he wonders if the wolves go to school or work and that’s the reason no one’s around, Stiles at least expected Derek’s Betas to be waiting outside his door like the creeps Stiles knows they all are. The house is huge, he tells himself, as he’s making his way through, although several of the rooms doors are closed, the ones that are open all hold beautiful furniture and all the latest technologies, this pack has definitely not suffered from the war. He stumbles into a dining room, nearly slamming his head against the door because he had heard voices behind it. In the room sits a long beautifully carved Dark Wood Mahogany table, where - holy shit wolves - lots of wolves sat, and all of them staring at Stiles. Derek sat at the head of the table, looking far too intimidating to be necessary, the wolves who gawked at him all turn their attention to Derek, as if expecting him to say something.

 

“Sit.” Derek commands with his authoritative voice if his, that Stiles has only ever heard on himself, Derek glances at the chair on his left as if Stiles couldn’t tell that was one of two seats open, the other of which on his right and Stiles would never sit there due to the fact that he would never be Derek’s right hand man.

 

“Yeah, how about no. I’m not really hungry so I’m just gonna -” Stiles hooks his thumb over his shoulder indicating that he’d rather just go sulk up in his room again, “go.” the word is a whisper as Derek’s calm look has turned almost murderous and Stiles would very much like to keep his head on his shoulders.

 

“Sit. I won’t tell you again.” Derek returns his face to look more like a scowl and less like he will bite Stiles head off and Stiles will take that. He will take that and he will sit next to Derek and try not to piss off the wolf even more. “Bring in the food.” Derek says over his shoulder, where Stiles just now notices is another door, most likely leading to the kitchen. Derek turns to look at the empty space on his right and then to Erica who is sitting next to said empty place. “Where is Scott? I thought I stressed how important it was that everyone was at this breakfast.”

 

Erica smirks and rolls her eyes, “Dunno Boss, you know how he is,” she waves a hand in the air flippantly, “You know how he is, why you made _him_ your second in command is a mystery to us all. But if I was your second, I’d make him be here.”

 

Derek growls softly, “My second in command is Scott, Erica, now go fetch him for me.” Derek smirks at her affronted look, he looks almost pleasant for once, but then the moment is gone and he’s back to being all scowly again. “Go _now_.” Derek says and Erica laughs as she floats out of the room. Stiles can hear her stomping up the stairs and think he can hear a door open, but his attention is drawn away when about six people start walking in with a startling amount of food. Stiles tenses when he first realizes what they are. They’re Derek’s _Omega Slaves_ , Stiles seethes silently in his seat, glaring down at the table in front of him. “Something wrong?” Derek says to him calmly, almost caringly, but he doesn’t care, not really it’s just fake.

 

“Why would anything be wrong, _Alpha_?” Stiles asks sarcastically, he watches the Omegas as they set down the food, at least they look well cared for, none of them look hurt or underfed or anything. Although wounds do heal, even if they are from an Alpha so Stiles doesn’t let his anger lessen. “Why do you have Omega Slaves when your Betas are perfectly capable of doing things?”

 

Derek’s look is startled when Stiles looks at the wolf’s face, he looks shocked at Stiles words, though he can’t imagine why. “You think they -” but Derek is cut off by Erica dragging in a sleepy figure behind her. She forces the boy down into the chair next to Derek before taking her own again, the boy doesn’t even seem to notice, just rubs at his eyes and yawns a little bit. “Scott how nice of you to join us.” Derek says and the boy - Scott - looks up at Derek while rubbing his eyes. “I know you’ve been away recently and just got back, but I expect you to be present when I ask you to. This is -” the Alpha is once again cut off when Scott finally looks up and across the table.

 

“Holy shit, I’m still dreaming.” The boy says looking at Stiles with with an expression of horror and excitement all wrapped up in one. He looks like he wants to get up and run and hug the life out of Stiles, but he doesn’t and his face falls into the most kicked puppy look Stiles has ever seen. “Oh no, fuck, fuck fuck!” Scott starts to freak out as he flings himself out of his chair, causing it to crash loudly on to the floor. Stiles wants to say something, he wants to yell at Scott to scream in his face, but he can’t do anything except stare blankly at the boy in front of him. “How are you here? Why are you here? Oh my God, did something happen to your dad? Is my mom -?” Scott has wolfed out by this point, eyes flashing from Alpha red to his usual brown, his claws have poked out and are now dragging down his thighs and ruining his pajama pants, his fangs are poking his lips causing him to bleed, but Scott doesn’t seem to notice any of it as he looks at Stiles like he’s terrified. “Stiles!”

 

“Scott!” Derek roars as he stands up, holding Scott by the shoulders and forcing the boy to look him in the eyes. “Calm down, you need to calm down right now.” Derek’s voice is surprisingly soothing as he talks Scott down enough so that he shifts out of wolf mode. His breathing regulates and he seems better now. “How do you know Stiles?”

“We used to be best friends.” Stiles says before Scott can respond. He walks over to where Derek and Scott standing on the opposite side of the table. “You’re a fucking asshole!” Stiles yells and slams into Scott’s body, sending the two of them to the floor as Stiles starts throwing punches at Scott’s face. “You - fuck you! You left! You just fucking left us! How fucking dare you!”

 

Stiles can feel himself being lifted off of Scott, but he doesn’t care, Stiles keeps swinging, throwing out his fists just to see if he can hit him one more time. Scott just lies there, motionless on the floor, a pool of blood is next to him, but he doesn’t seem to notice it. Scott lays there while his skin stitches itself up with tears streaming down his face, he doesn’t look at Stiles or Derek, who is the one who pulled him away from Scott, the boy just stares at the ceiling and cries.

 

“What the fuck is going on!” Stiles knows that’s Erica who is yelling. Stiles can feel the eyes of everyone on him, but he doesn’t care, they don’t bother him this time. He shakes off Derek’s hold, his palms warm against his stomach and shoulder, unsure weather to let go or not. Derek moves to help Scott up, Scott accepts the help, but as soon as he is up and standing he refuses to look at anyone, he keeps his eyes trained on the floor and only looks up at Stiles when he thinks he isn’t looking.

 

“Either one of you wants to explain how you two know each other and what the rude greeting was about?” Derek shifts his gaze back and forth from Scott to Stiles, but neither one of them is willing to explain the situation. Stiles crosses his arms over his chest as he glares down Scott. Derek lets out a sigh and a heavy eye roll, “Fine, Scott, you talk now.”

 

Scott opens his mouth to speak, darting up a look at Stiles before words actually make it out of his mouth. “Stiles, he’s a - was a - friend from where I lived before -”

 

“Before you fucking left us!” Stiles interrupts.

 

“I was taken.” Scott replies, voice quiet soft like he couldn’t stand to even yell back at Stiles. “I was taken from my mom and I wanted to go back, I really did, but I just couldn’t find my way back when I managed to escape and then Derek found me and I've been here ever since, rising through his ranks. I’m his second now, Stiles.” He looks so hopefully, like it’s something to be so proud about.

 

“Good for you Scott! Good for you, you have this nice big house to live in, with tons of food to eat, and a whole bunch of wolves you're in command of, good for fucking you! But you want to know what I’ve been dealing with? I’ve been trying not to get killed along with everyone else in our fucking town because, hello earth to Scott, the Alphas have been making our lives a living hell! Don’t you even care about your mother, Scott? The least you could have done was gotten her here, gotten her safe!” Stiles stops yelling, he’s breathing raggedly and he gasps for breath as he tries to get himself calm. “I think I’ve overstayed my welcome here.” He begins to make his way out of the room when a hand closes around his forearm, effectively stopping him.

 

“You are staying here. We will get you help to go south, just stay here.” Derek has a firm grip on his arm, his eyes are sad and worried as he looks at Stiles. “You are still welcome here.”

 

Stiles snatches his arm away and gives Derek his best glare.. “I’ll be in my room. No one and I do mean no one,” he glances at Scott, “is to bother me, understood? And I want to be about of this house in two weeks, or I’ll take my chances out there.” Derek nods curtly and Stiles runs up to his room where he flings himself on to his bed and yells loudly into his pillow. This was not how he expected his time here to be like.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes, I edited this pretty quickly because I was tired.

The first few days of the week, after the ‘Scott Incident’ Stiles was bored and not like he could just read a book and be fine, no, he was bored like he could hear everyone around him talking and laughing with each other and he was missing out and that and seriously reconsidering this whole not talking to anyone and staying holed up like a loner. But! Stiles was not one to admit defeat, although defeat to what, would be a good question. Stiles is the one who told Derek not to let anyone bother him, and surprisingly enough the wolf had kept his word. The only people he had any interaction with at all were Derek’s Omega slaves. One of them, a girl with pixie cut hair and a cute upturned nose, brought him food three times and day and another one, a boy around his age with the deepest blue eyes Stiles has ever seen, takes Stiles dirty clothes and gives him new ones everyday, like clockwork. The Omegas don’t talk to him, however, just give him small smiles and do what they were sent up to do. The first day it had made him mad that Derek had Made the Omegas do this, cater to Stiles’ needs, Stiles may have been a pig-headed Alpha in this situation, but on the second day Stiles realized he liked seeing the Omegas, they brought him comfort after the hours of being cooped up by himself, even if it was for only a few minutes at a time. His need to be around other Omegas was great and he relished in the time he got to see them.

On the fifth day, Stiles is guessing is a Tuesday, he really considers going down and saying hello to a few wolves, but the chance of seeing Scott quickly diminishes that thought quickly. Now that he’s thinking about Scott he can’t seem to stop, if he really was taken, why had he never tried to get in contact with their town again, even if he couldn’t get his mother out, she would still have liked to know that her only son was alive and healthy, Stiles instantly felt his stomach sink, how must his dad feel? No, Stiles can not afford to think like that. Stiles shifts his focus back to Scott, it’s not really that far-fetched, the story Scott claims to have happened, the Alphas, once upon a time, had moved in on their village, but instead of taking Omegas like they were doing now, they were taking Alphas, children Alphas, so that they could be trained for war, the perfect little soldiers. Children were impressionable and if they could get their hands on enough of them and mold their minds to hate Omegas, then they could eventually win the war. But, Scott was never taken, well at least not to anyone’s knowledge and the Alphas aren’t that subtle when it comes to taking something they want. They are actually pretty boastful about it. The Alphas had left swiftly and Scott had been gone a few days later after the Alphas had left so how is it possible that they took him? Scott must have tried to follow them or, or - Stiles doesn’t know. It’s easier to just say he hates Scott, he doesn’t want to change his views now, not when his only priority is to get out of here, not stick around and mend his broken friendship.

A knock on the door almost made Stiles scream like he was about to get murdered, which well in this house, who was he to know any better? Stiles could hear hushed arguing from the other side of the door, but no one was actually talking to him, Stiles was just about to open up his super hearing when there was another knock followed by more whisper-yells. Stiles just prayed it wasn’t Scott on the other side of the door. “What?” he groaned into his pillow.

“Oh.” The girl, who Stiles immediately recognized as Erica, sounded startled. “It’s um Erica and uh, Jackson, the one you punched in the face? Er, he forgives you for that by the way -” Erica is cut off when she starts to yell at, who Stiles can only assume is Jackson, and he can hear the faint sound of someone hitting someone and then a bang against the door, which sounded more like a body being pushed up against it. “Anyways,” Erica sounds out of breath once she continues. “Derek sends his apologies, but there was no more leftovers after breakfast, the wolves kind of went crazy with hunger due to the full moon and all,” there was a full moon? Stiles can’t remember the last time he didn’t feel the pull of the moon, he hadn’t realized the time had passed so quickly, “yeah, so Derek says you can go to the kitchens if you want, there’s plenty to eat so you can just go down and get something.”

“Just come eat something!” Jackson yells, although it does sound a bit labored.

“If not, Derek says he’ll be sure you get a plate of food for lunch, but I can hear you stomach growling from out here!” Erica laughs and Stiles kind of wants to punch her in her face, it’s not nice to laugh at other people's hunger.

“Go away, I’ll go down when I’m ready.” He can hear Jackson and Erica arguing - again - about leaving him to find food himself, but Erica says something to Jackson that must have pissed him off because all Stiles can hear now is a lot of growling and footsteps pounding against the floor and getting further and further away. Stiles pulls himself up from his bed and glances at the arm clock sitting on his nightstand, it reads 9:24, the Omega girl who brings him food usually brings it in around 8, how had he missed that? Stiles figures he was thinking too much about things he shouldn’t be thinking about in the first place. Food, food is a good safe thing to think about. Was he really that hungry that he should go down to the kitchen and make food, or could he hold out until lunch, lunch was usually served between 12 and 1, depending on what the wolves were doing, Stiles had four hours to kill - his stomach growled rudely at his thoughts - well then, food it is. Stiles made himself walk into his bathroom and splash some cold water on his face, his eyes looked sunken in, and he was paler than usual. Stiles blames the stress, it’s not easy to be an Omega pretending to be a Beta, in fact, it was downright exhausting, part of Stiles wishes he didn’t have to act, wishes he could show his true nature, but the other part of him, _the smarter part_ , knew how much of a horrible idea that was.

Walking through the house was eerie, he had eyes following his every move, the wolves, apparently didn’t go to school or work, instead they sat around the house and read and played video games and Stiles could have sworn he saw some of the fighting each other in the backyard, seriously, there was blood involved. Stiles wasn’t worried for them, he didn’t know them, and even if he did they were Betas and they healed rather quickly, so there was no reason to worry, not that he did anyways, because again he didn’t know them or care for them. Right. The kitchen wasn’t so hard to find, he just found the dining room where the Scott Incident had happened and walked a few feet down until he found the door to the attached room. The kitchen was huge, bigger than probably his old house, and it was filled with the latest kitchen appliances and there was food everywhere! It wasn’t messy, Stiles doesn’t think Derek could ever stand something messy, there was just stuff everywhere. Stiles admired the room a bit more before he finally realized he was being watched. A tall girl with lightly tanned skin was watching him, her red hair was piled in a messy bun on the top of her head, stray hairs in her face as she stood over the stove, one hand on her hip, the other stirring whatever was in the pot in front of her. She kept her eye on Stiles only occasionally checker her pot. Stiles was at a loss for what to say, should he ask her to make something for him? Should he just get something himself?

“Well,” the girl says after a moment of Stiles, possibly giving her the stink eye, her voice is high and has a slight accent that Stiles can’t place and she looks like she’s expecting Stiles to say anything, but he doesn’t know what to say to her. “Are you just going to stand there all day?” Possibly. “Did you need something, or do you just like staring at Omegas who are trying to work?”

“Food!” He blurts out before she can even finish that sentence, Gods, this must look all kinds of wrong, seeing as she doesn’t know that he’s an Omega. She gives him an unimpressed look, probably due to the fact that he just yelled at her, he clears his throat before he begins again. “I, um, Derek’s Betas told me that there was no more food after breakfast and to come down and get something, I could -” Stiles looks at the door behind him, judging if he should just get out now while he can. “But you look busy so I’m just going to go.”

“What are you - no more food, huh?” she shakes her head and curses under her breath about the Gods and Derek and Idiodicy, Stiles watches with wide eyes and wonders if he should have taken that time to bolt, but then she’s looking at him, pointing her wooden spoon at him like it’s a threat. “Sit down,” she motions, with her spoon, to a stool by the island in the center of the room. “Don’t touch anything, understand?” Stiles nods and she begins to stir the thing in the pot again. “I’ll fix you something.” she says and then under her breath mutters about Alphas being stupid dogs and Stiles has to agree with that statement, but doesn’t say anything for fear of his life. The red haired girl, who he should have gotten a name from, flies around the kitchen, grabs various things before setting to work, Stiles can’t tell what she’s making, but judging from the batter she’s stirring it could be pancakes, maybe waffles? Stiles doesn’t want to ask, he just draws random invisible figures into the counter. “You are the Beta Isaac, Boyd, and Jackson picked up and you fainted on the way here.” Stiles doesn’t know if he should respond to that, it was really a question, but the look she gives him tells him he should say something.

“Uh, yeah it would seem so and I didn’t faint. I passed out from living in the woods for a week on nothing but rabbits and water, and then I was running and I couldn’t find any water to drink and when those Betas found me I was dehydrated, so yeah I passed out. Sue me,” he was a bit defensive, it’s not like he really had a fighting chance with those three Betas ganging up on him, even if he was running full throttle, he was still an Omega and he was weak. Wolfs ran in packs for a reason, wolves were not meant to be loners.

“You hit Jackson.” Again, another not question. The girl was definitely making pancakes now, they were golden brown and fluffy.

“Yes. Well. They were trying to kidnap me and I fought back. Isn’t that what a Beta is supposed to do?” Had he done something wrong? Maybe these wolves thought differently.

“You tell me, Beta.” she says as she slides a plate with three pancakes and scrambled eggs on it, it looks as delicious as the food always does when he gets it. He digs in immediately, his stomach is happy. “I’m Leah, head cook for this pack.”

“Stiles.” He replies around a mouthful of pancakes and syrup. She raises an eyebrow at the odd name but doesn’t question it like Erica had. “So how do you like living here?” She raises her eyebrows at that too, but she turns back to the stove and is stirring with her wooden spoon, she doesn’t say anything for so long that Stiles thinks she isn’t going to say anything at all. Stiles has finished his food by the time she finally speaks up.

“It’s better than the last place I lived I can tell you that,” she glances back at him before returning to her pot. “Derek is a good Alpha, treats us all fair here, s’nice, you know? I know what you must think of him, you think what everyone else thinks.” She shakes her head roughly and mutter something about stupid wolves before he continues, “but you are wrong, Derek is a great Alpha and you should treat him with a bit more respect.” Stiles winces slightly at her tone. “Derek is kind to his Omegas and we are _not slaves_!” she snarls the last word, and Stiles can see her knuckles turn white from the grip she has on her wooden spoon.

Stiles is careful with the way he picks his words, not wanting to upset her more than he apparently already has. “You might not think you are slaves, but who cooks the food? The Betas? No, the Omegas, who washes the clothes, the dishes? Who is the one he cleans up after them? The Omegas, you think you’re free because you aren’t chained in his bedroom and forced to be bred, but you aren’t free and once you think you are they have you right where they want you.” Stiles laughs and it sounds rough even to his own ears. “Omegas are weaker and smaller in every way possible, you can be forced into submission just by a simple command and they will use it against you. You think you are free because they don’t put collars on you, but Omegas aren’t free and we probably will never be.” Stiles sags, the anger leaving his body after he speaks, he shouldn’t be mad at this girl, she has done nothing wrong, except maybe bow to an Alpha, but nobody’s perfect.

Leah is silent for a moment before her eyes narrow at Stiles. “We.” she whispers, “We, you said ‘we’.” she walks over to him and pokes him in the chest with her spoon. “Why would you say ‘we’ Beta?”

“I said we because I fight for the cause, I want to see Omegas have just as many rights as Alphas do.” Leah looks at him a little oddly for a moment, before she accepts the answer and walks back to the stove, Stiles really wants to know what she making in it, it must be something for herself because the pot is too small for it to be for all of the wolves that live in the house.

“You should really learn how to lie better.” Stiles absolutely does not jump out of his seat at the sound of Derek’s voice behind him, but well, he’s out of his chair now, so what can he do? Wait, lie? _Lie_ , he needs to learn how to lie better? He lies every second of everyday! “You have a tell.” he says simply, like Stiles is a fucking idiot for not noticing it. Stiles spins around to see Derek leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest and looking very intimidating, he’s giving Stiles one of those looks that Stiles doesn’t know how to interrupt. “You play with your fingers when you lie and when you're nervous, you touch your thumb to every single finger before doing it all over again, it’s your tell.” Derek can’t possibly know that, he has had hardly any interaction with the man.

“And you know that how exactly?”

But Derek doesn’t answer him, instead he walks closer to Stiles as he begins to talk. “What exactly do you think of me, Stiles? Do you think I’m some tyrant Alpha who makes my Omegas clean my boots with their toothbrushes? Do you think I abuse my Omegas? Hmm, what is it that you think? Because despite what the world may think, _I_ think that Omegas deserve rights, I think they are people and they deserve to be treated like so. Leah cooks for the house because she loves to do it, so who am I to tell her otherwise? All of my Omegas do what they want, they are Omegas it is in their nature to help the pack, to care for them, so tell me how _I’m_ in the wrong for letting them do what they want.”

Stiles doesn’t say anything, what can he say really? He doesn’t know Derek, he doesn’t know if what he’s saying is true, although his heartbeat didn’t falter, he could have learned how to control it like Stiles has. Stiles doesn’t want to believe the Alpha, but he doesn’t seem like the kind to abuse his Omegas, at least not from what Stiles can see, but everything in Stiles blood is telling him to _get out_ to leave and get as far away from Derek as he possibly can because nothing good can come out of him actually befriending the Alpha, no matter how good looking he is. He can not let his Omega nature be shown here, he can’t afford to let these people know what he really is, it’s too big of a risk. When Stiles doesn’t say anything, Derek starts to speak again.

“I don’t know what Alpha fucked you over so bad that every time you come across one you assume the worst, but it’s not wise to judge a book by it’s cover, just because my eyes glow red doesn’t mean I’m an abusive asshole. You have some seriously twisted views if you think that about me. I could have killed you for wandering around on my land, but instead I brought you here, I fed you and kept you safe and yet you still can’t see that I’m good.” Derek watches Stiles as his face goes through many emotions at once, shock, sadness, surprise, and finally landing on angry, his eyes filled with rage and his fists balled where they hang next to his sides.

“You -” Stiles cuts himself off with a huff of anger, “you Alphas think you are so high and mighty. You think everything you do is right. You think that you can - that you can just take whatever the hell you want, from who ever the fuck you want to!” Stiles is shaking from the anger coursing through his body, his lean frame almost bursting with the emotions he is having, he takes a deep calming breath, telling himself to settle his wolf, who is a little too close to the surface than he would like it to be. Stiles shakes his head after a moment. “Want to know why I hate Alphas with such a passion, why every time I see one I want to snap their necks with my bare hands? It’s because an Alpha, with an ego complex, decided that he wanted my Omega mother, even though she was clearly already Mated with my father, but no this was an _Alpha_ and he had to claim whatever he wanted. He killed my mother for fighting him, right in front of me in fact, he didn’t even care that I was there. He would have raped her _in front of me_ and he didn’t even care.” Stiles looks down at his bare feet, no one says anything, all he can hear is Derek’s harsh breathing from a few feet in front of him. Stiles looked up to see him, eyes red and claws stabbing his thighs. “Then I saw my father who was a second to late to save my mother, rip open the Alpha’s chest and eat his heart to make sure he was dead and stayed dead and then my father held me in his bloody arms until someone showed up to help. You see Derek, you Alphas think you can just take without consequences, there will always be consequences.”

“I am not the Alpha that killed your mother.” Derek says through gritted teeth.

Stiles smiles sadly at him, “No, you aren’t, you also aren’t the Alpha that is currently going through my town and taking and raping Omegas either, but what are you doing to make sure it never happens again? Nothing, which makes you no better than the ones who are doing it.”

Derek doesn’t respond, he glares at the floor like he’s hoping it will cause something major to happen. The door opens across the room and it rips Stiles attention away from Derek, Scott is standing at the opened entrance, great the whole house probably heard what he said. “Stiles, I - I had no idea.” Scott begins, his puppy dog eyes are red and puffy and still filled with tears, Stiles wants to run and hug him, but doesn’t, he stays rooted to the spot in the kitchen, trying to think of something to say to him. “I should have known, I should have gone back!” Scott seems to be talking to himself, “I wanted to -”

Stiles cuts him off, “But you didn’t, Scott.” Scott looks like Stiles ripped his heart out of _his_ chest and ate it in front of him. “You didn’t come back, okay? So just stop saying you should have.”

“But Stiles I -”

“I don’t care, okay? I really don’t, I need to get to the Southern States and I need to get there quickly. If you want to do something for me, do this.” Scott still looks crestfallen, but he nods all serious like and it’s kind of cute. Stiles looks back to Derek, but he hasn’t moved his gaze at all and Stiles has nothing more to say to him.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Stiles spends the next day holed up alone in his room, the Omega girl brings him his food again and everything is just like normal again, except she talks to him, tells him her name - Nicole - tells him about the pack and how much she likes it. Stiles guesses Derek put them up to this, but he’s finding it hard to care, because at least someone is talking to him, Stiles hasn’t even realized how much he missed it. When the boy Omega - Kyle - brings him clean clothes he talks to him as well, except he talks about the video games they have and all the movies they watch together and how they occasionally have huge puppy piles and everyone sleeps together in the living room, snuggled with each other and it sounds heavenly. Stiles wishes he could just insert himself into this pack sometimes, that he could live with them here forever and he could laugh with them and joke with them, but then he remembers his dad and all thoughts like that go out the window.

He does, however, think it would be okay to watch some tv, just because he has to stay here until Derek, and apparently Scott now, find a way for him to get down to the Southern States. He might as well not be bored out of him mind while he waits, right? That’s a reason. Stiles walks out of his room slowly, he doesn’t even try to be quiet because as he’s walking down the stairs, he trips over his feet and goes tumbling down the last half of them. Erica is waiting at the bottom of them with a smirk, her hands on her hips, and a scary smile on her painted red lips. “Stiles how nice you to come down and see us.” she says as Stiles picks himself up, he can feel one of his bones correcting itself inside his body. “Did you fall by accident or is that your way of making an entrance?”

“Oh ha, ha, you are so funny. I tripped.” Stiles glares at the girl while she smiles and waits for Stiles to say something. “Kyle said you guys have video games and movies and I want in.” Her eyes light up at his words and she grips Stiles wrist with a great amount of force as she pulls him through the house. Wolves are looking at her like she’s gone a little mad, but she doesn’t seem to care, Stiles tries his best to assure them with his eyes that he’s fine and really not about to die at the hands of Erica, but seeing how most of them aren’t that relieved by his eye talking, they still stare and some whisper to each other. Erica stops at a room that has two unmade beds in it and a desk that's pushed up against the wall that is covered in charcoal and random drawings, most of which look like members of the pack. Stiles wants to look through them, wants to see them, but Erica pulls him in and away from the desk, she pushes him down into a surprisingly soft beanbag chair, that is seated next to the curly haired kid that found him in the woods, and next to Boyd, the big dude that Erica hangs off of. Erica hands him a controller as she takes one for herself and sits on the other side of Boyd.

“Ready to lose, Stiles?” Erica calls out and Stiles is too busy looking at the controller and the people around him to realize that the game has started and Stiles is driving around in a Princess Peach cart, because he hadn’t been paying attention and Isaac, who is in the Bowser kart, throws bombs at him and it’s at that moment that Stiles realizes he’s playing Mario Kart and who still plays that anymore? His need to win, though, overtakes all his thoughts as he pushes buttons and tries to go faster than what he can, because Princess Peach has one slow ass cart. He manages to come in second, but only because he threw some bananas out and Boyd slipped on them, causing his cart to hit a wall and Stiles and Erica to pass him up and Stiles beat Erica to the finish line by a second. Erica grumbles about cheating assholes as they start another round, Isaac has a cheeky smile on his face as he picks Bowser again. The little shit actually thinks he’s going to win again.

Stiles, Erica, Boyd, and Isaac stay like that all the way until dinner is being served, each one of them having won a handful of games, he’s learned that Boyd likes to play dirty and will either knock your controller out of your hands or move his hand over your eyes so you are unable to see, or something to cause you to mess up, while Isaac is like a ninja, he doesn’t say anything, hell he doesn’t do much of anything, but somehow he always manages to come out of last at the last second and beat everyone, Stiles suspects he has cheat codes someone in his curly head. Erica, Erica doesn’t do much to Stiles to mess him up, but she will occasionally move closer to Boyd and whisper something in his ear that causes him to crash before he gets his bearings straight, it’s actually quite funny. Stiles doesn’t even notice the presence of one surly Alpha watching them the whole time, too busy playing video games like he used to when he was a kid.

Dinner that night is lively, he sits next to Derek and Erica insists that she sit next to Stiles, Scott sits across from him, but doesn’t actively talk to Stiles, and Stiles feels comfortable for once around the wolves, Erica blocks him from sitting next to someone he doesn’t know and Isaac and Boyd sit across from him. Derek sits at the head of the table on right side and looks powerful and beautiful as he watches his pack with rapt attention, never leaving one of the wolves out if they talk to him. It’s nice, calming in a way the first day here for Stiles wasn’t. Isaac and Boyd joke around about all the ways Stiles lost and how he managed to let Erica win that one time because Erica is one of the worst Mario Kart players and Stiles should have never let such an atrocity happen.

Everyone quiets down when dessert is served, Stiles is happy with the way the day turned out, maybe these wolves weren’t as bad as Stiles thought. He sees Scott glancing at Derek nervously and Stiles knows whatever Scott is about to say isn’t something good. Scott clears his throat as he looks at Stiles. “I think I found a way to get you to the South.” Stiles perks up at that, that was a very good thing, he had already been here for more than a week, time is of the essence.

Scott doesn’t say anything more than that, Stiles is trying to make his best ‘okay tell me more’ face, but Scott the stupid puppy is not getting it. “Okay. Do you want to tell me and the rest of the class what it is you’re thinking?”

“Oh! Right. Yes!” Scott smiles a bit as he pushes his plate to the side. “I’m just going to drive you down there.” Yes, because Stiles hadn’t thought about that one. “Well?” he says after Stiles stares blankly at him.

“Scott you can’t just drive me into the South, do you know how heavily guarded the gates between here and there is? There is stop points and you have to get the car inspected like every few miles and there are Alphas out the ass and then, how would you get back? You’re an Alpha and Omegas don’t typically like you, you could get stuck there with me, and I just, it’s not a good idea Scott, plus I can’t cross the checkpoints with you, you aren’t my Alpha.” Stiles can see Scott’s happy demeanor diminish with every word he says and while it’s a good plan in theory it will never be in reality, the checkpoints are there for a reason, so an Omega can’t get through without an Alpha and only with the Alpha they are loyal to. Plus Stiles couldn’t get passed the first checkpoint, and even though he claims to be a Beta, they want proof and Stiles can’t go around flashing his golden eyes and still pretend to be a Beta, it doesn’t work like that.

“So what, just have Scott bite you and say he’s your Alpha and then once you get where you need to be, you go your separate ways.” Erica says it with a shoulder shrug, like that’s the _only_ flaw in the plan.

“No.” Derek says, his eyes flash red at Scott who immediately bares his neck for his Alpha. “Scott will not bite Stiles.” Derek shifts his gaze from Scott to Stiles and then back to Scott. “Understood?”

“One hundred percent.” Scott confirms. Derek nods, like he just did a job and did it correctly and Stiles is stunned, that was just a little bit over the top. There was no need for Derek to go all growly Alpha on Scott, the plan was just a theory and besides he got mad at Scott for wanting to bite Stiles, but Erica was the one who brought it up, should he be mad at her too? Stiles watched Derek, but Derek wouldn’t look his way after his intense Scott scare down.

“So then, we are all in agreement that there needs to be a new plan.” Stiles claps his hands together. “Okay, hop to it Scotty. And it needs to be soon, I can not express how vital it is that this needs to be soon.” Scott gives him a confused look, before he puts a smile back on.

“Don’t worry Stiles, I’ll think of something.” Scott literally hops out of his chair and out of the room, the rest of the wolves follow not to far behind him.

 **  
** Stiles just hopes that Scott can find a way out of here soon because if not there is no mistaking that the whole house will find out just how much of an Omega Stiles is. Stiles heat starts in two weeks and if he isn’t out of here within a week of it, he’s going to start smelling like a ripe Omega Virgin and that’s basically catnip to werewolves. Stiles needs out and he needs out now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I missed something in the tags, please let me know!  
> Thanks for reading


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stiles has a panic attack in this chapter, just wanting to let you guys know. 
> 
> Sorry for the super long wait, hopefully it was worth it (:  
> Unbetaed, let my know if I missed tagging anything!

After that night, Stiles comes out of his room more, he hangs out with Erica mainly, because even though Scott is around Stiles still doesn't feel comfortable enough to talk about anything other than a way to move Stiles to the Southern States and even that is a bit much sometimes, Erica though, thank the Gods, seems to know when Scott is being a little overbearing and pulls him away just before he feels like strangling Scott. Stiles has figured out that Isaac, Boyd, and Jackson are usually gone three to four days out of the week, they are out prowling the forest for wolves, like they had been when they found Stiles, so Derek can take them in and possibly help them. Erica mostly looks after the younger wolves during the day, and Scott basically runs errands for Derek, well at least that’s what Stiles assumes he does because Scott leaves the house at random times of the day and sometimes doesn't get back anywhere from hours to a day or so later, so what else could he be doing? Derek, Derek doesn't talk to him except a ‘hello’ the first time he sees him, but even though he doesn't talk to Stiles, Stiles can still feel his eyes on him, like they are burning holes through the back of his head, but yet when Stiles turns to look for the Alpha he is nowhere to be seen. Erica laughs at him, when he tries to tell her about it and Stiles doesn’t know how to feel about that. Part of him thinks it’s a bit creepy that the Alpha wolf stares at him, but won’t let Stiles look back at him, but the other part the Omega part of him loves it, he can feel himself start to posture for the Alpha, to make himself look good, to look worthy of an Alpha. Stiles is quick to pull it back once he catches himself, he can’t afford to act like this, especially with his heat so close, so he focus on other things instead. Erica and him usually play video games or read books with the other wolves, Stiles favorite wolf is the little six year old boy with soft black hair and pretty pale brown eyes. He’s adorable and likes to perch himself in Stiles lap and read to him, or pat his face and coo at Stiles for some unknown reason. The older wolves laugh at him, but Stiles doesn't take it too harshly because Dylan, the little boy, bit Jackson one time he made fun of him.

 

But the days are not always sunshine and rainbows and sometimes Stiles gets frustrated. It's usually Scott who upsets him, sometimes Jackson, but every knows Jackson’s an asshole. Scott, though, Scott sometimes thinks that things are okay between them and he’ll say something, or touch Stiles in someway and Stiles will get upset, he will push Scott away and Scott will give him those puppy dog eyes of his that he has perfected and Stiles just can’t stand that, so he’ll go up to his room and sulk for a bit because he can’t deal with all the emotions he has, how is he supposed to treat Scott? Should he just forgive him? Should he trust that what he says is true? Stiles doesn’t know, he doesn’t know what's right. A week goes by without a solution to Stiles Southern States problem, Scott has suggested a few more things, but none of the seem plausible and Derek is fierce on his Stiles is not to get bit by Scott thing he has going on. Scott had casually brought it up again one day and Derek had snarled at his second in command until he left the house entirely. Stiles was impressed, Derek should scare Scott away more. But Stiles gets more nervous by every hour that passes, there is only one more week until his heat kicks in and with two Alphas in the house he doesn’t know how that will affect it.

 

“Stiles!” Erica is snapping her perfect manicured fingers in front of Stiles face and he has to blink a few times before she comes into view properly. “Where’d you go there? You had this look in your eyes and you reek of nerves, you okay?” Stiles tries to sniff himself, but it’s useless and he sits there trying to reign in his feelings. Stiles knows he can’t just blurt out that he’s an Omega coming into heat and that this is the first time he’s been around an Alpha that isn’t his father. What if his heat hits early? What if they force him? What if he can’t control himself? What if he says he wants to but it’s just the heat talking? What if -

 

“Stiles! Stiles! Breathe! God Dammit,” Stiles can hear the growly voice of - of someone - it seems so familiar, but the voice is getting further and further away and Stiles is having a hard time focusing on the body in front of him and his vision is going back, all he can see is darkness and yelling, he can hear lots of yelling, a deep voice mixed with a feminine one. Someone shouting to get back and Stiles tries to breathe, but his breath keeps getting stuck in the back of his throat and it’s such a struggle. Stiles just wants it all to go away, he wants it to stop. Stop, just stop. Stop, just stop. Stop, just stop. The words are like a broken record in his mind as he slowly comes back to himself, the voices are easier to hear now, although they’ve died down, he can hear the hushed whispering of Erica and Derek, he has to remind himself to tune down his instincts and tells himself not to listen to the conversation, but it’s hard considering he can feel the rumble of Derek’s chest as he speaks up against his back. Stiles wants to tense up, but forces himself not to, it’s not weird, Derek is just trying to calm him down, only he doesn’t know that he's doing the exact opposite. Stiles forces his eyes open, from where he had clenched them shut, and the world is a blur of colors around him as he eyes readjust to their surroundings. Stiles is now on the floor, eye level with Erica’s knees as she looks down at him with a slight frown creasing her brow. Derek is still holding on to him and if Stiles looks down he can see the hairy muscular arms of the Alpha clasped right below his sternum. “Are you okay?” Stiles can feel Derek’s warm breath ghost across the shell of his ear as he speaks and it makes a shiver go up Stiles spine.

 

“Better, yes, thank you. I uh, I’m sorry.” Stiles makes to get up, but Derek doesn’t remove his arms so Stiles is forced to stay sitting down with Derek’s arms around him. It’s not that it’s uncomfortable sitting in Derek’s arms, it’s just that it’s a little too comfortable and Stiles' Omega mind is starting to respond to being so near an Alpha, so close to his heat and he can feel himself wanting to give himself over to the Alpha, to bear his neck and show Derek just how willing he is. To just bend over and present for the Alpha to show him, show him how much he wants it, wants Derek, wants this Alpha as his, but he forces the thoughts away and forces himself to keep a clear head, because now Erica is giving him a strange look and Stiles has to focus on the conversation at hand.

 

“Why are you sorry?” Derek’s voice is soft as he speaks and he loosens his hold on Stiles, so that he can move if he wants, but he chooses not to, the traitorous part of his mind tells him it’s because he wants to be near his Alpha.

 

“I didn’t mean to have a panic attack. I get them sometimes, it was worse after my mother died.” Stiles can feel Derek’s arms spasm, wanting to tighten around him again, but they don’t, they tense for a moment and then they relax to how they were before, to just lightly holding on and confusing Stiles as to if he wants to get up or if he wants to stay in Derek’s embrace. “I’m sorry for having one, I can usually get a hold of them early on.”

 

“Don’t apologize for that. Ever.” Derek is getting up quickly and pulling Stiles along with him, until he is standing and staring into Derek’s wondrous green eyes, Stiles has never noticed before how beautiful his eyes are before and now he can’t help but stare at them, but Derek is staring right back, so the world can’t be all bad right? Derek still has his arms around Stiles and Stiles can feel their chests brush together with each inhale they take and Derek’s lips are so close to his own, they are almost the same height, but Derek still dwarfs him all the same and Stiles feels right in Derek’s arms.

 

“But you’re okay now right?” Erica’s voice breaks whatever trance Stiles was in and makes him focus on just how wrong their position might look to an outsider. Stiles takes a step back, breaking Derek’s hold on him, his arms drop to his side and he watches Stiles with a new curiosity, one of his eyebrows quirking up as he watches Stiles. He feels exposed, like Derek knows his deepest secret and that just, no he can’t know, not by Stiles having a panic attack. But what if -

 

“Yes, I’m fine now, thanks to Derek.” The Alpha nods his head slightly and crosses his arms over his chest, as he watches Stiles. Stiles slides a little closer to Erica, just to get away from Derek, to get away from all the temptation that Derek gives Stiles by just being close. “This is the first time in a long time that i’ve had one, I shouldn’t have another.”

 

“Why’d you have one in the first place?” Derek’s gaze moves up to Erica as if she’s the reason behind all of this but she's not, it’s just Stiles. Stiles mind, Stiles thoughts, Stiles nervousness. Stiles looks to Erica who has her arms crossed, daring Derek to say a word against her about Stiles attack.

 

“I was my fault, I think I just freaked myself out.” Derek looks to him and surprise is written on his face, but doesn’t say anything more.

 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Erica says softly and her stance relaxes as she touches Stiles arm slightly, just a brush of her fingers against his forearm. “Let’s go do something relaxing, Dylan might like a story read to him.” Stiles nods to agree, and chances a look back at Derek as Erica is pulling him out of the room. Derek is looking at him with a look of, longing? Like he wants to reach out and drag him back to him and hold on, but the look is gone when Erica pulls him around the corner and Stiles is left wondering why Derek didn’t pull him away from the girl and back into his arms. His arms were warm and embracing and Stiles felt safe even though it was for only a few minutes, well a few minutes that he was conscious of, who knew how long it had really been for.

Dylan pounces on him the moment he sees Stiles, flying up into his arms and latching on like a baby koala instead of a werewolf, he nuzzles his nose into Stiles throat and Stiles can hear the noisy inhale as Dylan breathes in his scent. Stiles rubs his back and ties to calm the little boy. "It's okay Dylan, I'm fine."

Dylan sniffs again and moves his head so Stiles can hear him speak. "I saw you on the floor and Derek was holding you and yelling at everyone. I thought you - I thought -" stiles hushes him gently and settles down on the couch with the little cub still in his arms.

"It's okay. I'm here, I'm fine, I'm not going anywhere." Stiles rests his chin on top of the boys head and holds him while the little wolf calms down.

"You shouldn't tell him that." Erica says, watching him with curious eyes and a sad smile.

"Tell him what? That everything's okay? Everything's okay. I'm fine. Nothing is wrong." Stiles holds the boy closer to him as Erica sits down next to them on the couch, a little girl settling into her lap with a book.

"No, not that. You said you weren't going anywhere and I don't think it's a good idea for you to be telling him that when you're so adamant that you have to get to the Southern States. You will leave him eventually so just don't make promises you can't keep." Erica turns her attention to the girl in her lap and begins to help her read the book she has, Stiles thinks it's ironic she's reading 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

He glances down at Dylan who has fallen asleep in his arms, little mouth open and drool collecting on his tee shirt, he looks cute and Stiles can't help the feeling of wanting to stay here, wanting to stay and take care of this little cub and watch over him and protect him from everything bad in the world. Stiles tightens his hold on the boy before he loosens it again and runs a hand through his messy hair. Stiles can't afford to think like this though, he can't allow himself to make connections with these people, there are all only a means to an end, only a way to get to the Southern States, only a way for him to get his freedom. But he has freedom now doesn't he? But he can't be himself here, he can't be an Omega, he'd have to live his life as a Beta and how would that work out when he was so obviously an Omega and it would be very, very obvious within the next six days.

Stiles sighed as he snuggles in closer to the wolf, allowing himself to drift off into a fitful sleep. He could feel Dylan pressed up against him, but the warmth wasn't enough to settle him. He could feel Erica at his side moving around and talking to someone, Stiles tried to block it all out and shifted, trying to get comfortable. The dreams he had, more like nightmares, were filled with Derek, Derek figuring out he’s an Omega and making him a slave, forcing himself on Stiles. Stiles crying, begging him to stop, yelling and crying. The worst of them though, Stiles saying yes, Stiles being so heat drunk he can’t tell him no, can’t force the Alpha away. Stiles wants it, wants it so bad and he wants Derek, needs to Derek to help him through the heat, his first heat with an Alpha.

 

Stiles jolts awake at a cold hand on his forehead. Erica’s blonde curls swimming around him face, she’s talking to him, saying, something. He should focus on it. “-burning up, Gods, you’re so warm, are you okay?” and she’s talking to him, he should probably respond, but someone else is pushing Erica aside and he can see three mud covered faces.

 

Boyd, Isaac, and Jackson are staring at him and talking to one another as they look at him with searching eyes.

 

“Is he dying?”

 

“Better not be dying, after I carried his scrawny ass all the way here.”

 

“He is not dying.”

 

“You are crowding him!” Erica yells over the three boys spoken thoughts. “Just back up, maybe Derek can do something to help.” At Derek’s name Stiles freezes up and it doesn’t go unnoticed by the four Betas staring at him. Vaguely he wonders where Dylan went and why he isn’t here, but that thought process is cut off when the Alpha himself walks in the room, looking as gorgeous as ever - those thoughts need to go away - and very worried, his brow is pulled down and he’s giving Stiles this look like a kicked puppy and Stiles has never seen the Alpha look so weak. He walks over and places a slightly less cold, than Erica’s hand, on his forehead and curses under his breath.

 

“He’s not going to die.” Derek announces as he stands up and looks at each one of his Betas separately, Stiles figures they are communicating through Derek’s eyebrows. “How about you three,” he points to Jackson, Isaac, and Boyd, “take him and the others outside and I’ll have Leah bring dinner outside. I need to talk to Scott and you.” He looks at Erica looks like she’s seen a ghost as she nods at her Alpha. She casts a worried gaze at Stiles before walking out of the room, quietly. Derek turns back to look at Stiles, he doesn’t look weak anymore, he looks strong, determined, as he sweeps his gaze over Stiles unmoving form. “We’ll discuss things at dinner.”

 

The three boys in front of him, watch their Alpha leave the room before turning their questioning gaze on to Stiles. “Well, haven’t you had a busy morning.” Isaac says cheerfully and steps up to take one of Stiles arms and hauls him off the couch. He takes a whiff of Stiles neck, and has stopped by the time Stiles realizes what has happened. “You smell like Derek.” He turns to the other guys, “Doesn’t he smell like Derek?” The other two wolves lean in as if to smell, but Stiles steps away before they can.

 

“Stop that.” He crosses his arms over his chest, as if it will prevent them from his scent. “Do not sniff me without my permission. It’s an invasion of privacy.” Isaac shrugs, the shit, and places his hands in his pockets as he turns to make his way out of the room. “Didn’t your Alpha tell you to do something?” Jackson rolls his eyes and follows Isaac out, but Boyd waits until Stiles has started moving before following. “You know I don’t need you to act like my bodyguard or something, I can handle myself just fine, thanks.”

 

“Derek doesn’t seem to think so.” Is all he says before they are walking outside into a - holy shit that’s huge - backyard. The trees that surround the house are about forty feet away and make a perfect circle around the house, green luscious grass, fills the space between and Stiles can make out a massive garden on the West side of the house, and a few wolves tending to it. On the other side is a impressive slide, swing, sandbox, play area where the young wolves are playing and in the center there is what looks like wolfy cage fighting going on, only without the cage, so like street fighting? Forest fighting? Stiles doesn’t know, he does know that there are two wolves fighting out in the middle of the backyard, throwing punches and kicks at one another as they circle each other.

 

“What the fuck is going on!?” A few wolves turn and see what the outburst is about, but they mostly stay focused on the fight going on in front of them, no claws are out, but there are very claw-like rips in each of the boy’s shirts and dried blood covers a large part of the colored cloth. They are sweating and breathing harshly, and growling. One of them, the brown haired boy, moves in to throw a punch, but the redhead, anticipates it and blocks, landing a kick of his own, the browny grunts at. Red grins, flashing all his pointy teeth, and moves in, managing to knock browny off his feet and straddling him, and punching him until browny gives up. Red howls, loud and proud and throws his hands up in victory once he’s off the other boy. “Seriously, you guys just fight each other in your spare time?”

 

“Boyd lifts an eyebrow at him, so Stiles knows how stupid that question is. “What else are we supposed to do? There is a war going on, and we study enough, we know enough, that’s not a problem. So what else do we do, we prepare, prepare for the inevitable war to reach us and hope we can defend ourselves.”

 

“Is that why Derek takes in so many Betas?”

 

Boyd opens his mouth and then shuts it, shaking his head a little as he watches the red haired boy begin to circle with a black haired girl. “You seriously don’t know who Derek is? You’ve never heard about him and how he got his Alpha status?”

 

“Wait, he wasn’t born an Alpha. I thought, I thought all Alphas were born, you can’t change that.” Stiles glares at the two bodies in front of him, twisting and turning like a vicious dance, they are pretty evenly matched. Where the girl has speed, the boy has strength, but they both have wits and patience. “How is that possible? If I killed an Alpha I could become an Alpha?” he laughs. “Thats a good one.”

 

Boyd shakes his head, “It’s different, something happened to his family.” he shrugs, “I’m not really sure, to be honest, I only know bits and pieces and even then, it’s not enough. Derek doesn’t talk about it.”

 

“And you've never questioned it?”

 

“Derek is my Alpha, I never question him.” Because that’s not the most stupidest answer in the world. Just because he’s an Alpha doesn’t mean he doesn’t lie. Stiles wants to yell at Boyd, wants to shake him and make him see that they aren’t to be trusted, that they are the ones who started this war, it’s because of them that they have to train and fight each other. And it will be because of him when the war gets to their land and their wolves are slaughtered. “No more talk of Derek, he doesn’t like it. How about you go fight?”

 

“What? Are you insane! No!” Stiles cover will surely be blown if he fights, he’ll heal too quickly and he’s much faster than any of these wolves. They would definitely notice something weird was going on. Plus he’d be so focused on fighting he might not be able to focus on keeping his instincts in control and he does not need all of that going on while he’s in the middle of trying not to get punched. “Why don’t you go fight, you’re big and strong, I’m sure it’ll be easy for you.”

 

Boyd chuckles, “You would think so, but that girl,” he points to the girl who has just punched Red in the jaw so hard Stiles can hear the crack, “that’s Derek’s sister and I’ve lost enough fists with her to know that I won’t be caught dead fighting her again.” Stiles watches the girl, she has her brother’s murderous eyebrows and insanely perfect green eyes, but that’s about it. Her skin in a little lighter than Derek’s, she is lean, not bulky, she moves with grace not power, she is pretty intense the way she fights. Each of her moves is careful and calculated, all of them precise and perfect. “Cora is her name, I think you’d be a good match for her.” She moves in again, sweeps her leg before Red can move away, and he’s laying star fished out on his back, with Cora’s barefoot holding him down.

 

“Yeah, I think I’m good just watching her dominate everyone here.”

 

“Everyone except Derek. I think she’s fought and won with everyone here, except the Omegas,” well that’s him, “And she’s never lost one fight, except to Derek.”

 

“Well he is the Alpha, isn’t there some unspoken law about not being stronger than your Alpha?”

 

Boyd shrugs, he’s good at that. “She’s had a fight with him every day that I’ve been here, always loses. Anyways, she’ll want to fight you, so you might as well go.” Boyd gives him a little push which sends him tumbling towards the ground when he trips over his own feet in the process, but before he can break his nose on the grass, he’s being hauled back up and placed on his feet. And there is Cora, Derek’s little sister, standing right in front of him.

 

“He doesn’t look so tough.” She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, behind them another fight has started with Red and Isaac. “I’ve been waiting to see you and this, this is you.” He should be insulted by that, but before he can say anything she is grabbing his shirt collar and dragging him away from Boyd and into the middle of the yard. “Come on little Beta, lets fight. I haven’t lost one yet.” She backs away from him once he’s in the spot she wants and she holds her hands up defensively. Stiles stands there and watches her, he is not going to fight with this wolf. “Come on wolf!” she yells.

 

“I am so not fighting you. You broke that guys jaw!” Stiles gaze snaps up to Red where he has Isaac in a choke hold.

 

Cora sighs, “Fine I won’t break anything. Let’s start.” That was not the point! She steps forward and Stiles steps back, forward, back, forward back. Cora growls before she’s up in his face, an arm pulled back waiting to strike and Stiles moves before he can tell himself not to and Cora swings into the air, while Stiles is standing behind her. “What the fuck?” she turns, a wild look in her eyes. “That was fast for a Beta.” she advances again, they fall into a pattern, forward back, forward back, strike, move. And repeat. “There is no way you are still this fast, you have to be tiring out.”

 

“My dad used to train me in this, used to push me way past my limits until I couldn’t take another step, and then after he won the fight, he’d wait for me to heal up and we’d go again.” Stiles dad had a vigorous workout for the both of them, kept them strong and it kept his dad mostly okay with him going to school everyday. “I could do this all day.” she growls again, moving to sweep her leg, but Stiles catches the movement and is out the way before she can touch him. “I watched you fight, so you are going to have to figure something else out. My dad taught me how to anticipate my opponents next move.” Her eyes flash Beta blue and she runs straight at him, snarling when Stiles moves sideways out of her path.

 

“You are too fast!” she growls and begins to circle him. “Faster than any Beta I’ve ever come across.” Stiles freezes, could she be thinking he isn’t a Beta? Could she know he’s an Omega? A fist connects with his jaw and sends him flying back until his face first on the grass. “Guess not fast enough.” she says, stalking forward towards him, Stiles tries to get up, but his arms are like jelly and his head is swimming, black spots dance across his vision. “Come on quick little Beta, get up so we can finish this.” Stiles tries to push himself up again, but it’s useless, his arms are like noodles. “Come on, wolf.”

 

“Enough!” The roar echoes through Stiles mind as he shakes away the ringing in his ears. “Cora, go find someone else to torture.” Derek is walking towards him, Erica and Scott flanking him, and a crowd parting for them. When did so many people start to watch them?

 

Above him, Cora growls. “This is my fight Derek, we need to finish it.”

 

Derek’s eyes flare red as he turns his attention to his sister. “And I said you need to go find a new one. Now!” Cora growls, but walks off anyways, the crowd is already dispersing, maybe to watch Isaac and Red, where they still fighting? “She got you good, huh?” Derek is crouched next to him, checking his face with soft fingers. “Nothing broke, right?” Stiles shakes his head, not trusting his voice right now, Derek’s proximity to him makes him nervous and his wolf goes a little haywire at the touch of his fingers and his question about his well being. He cares! He cares! His wolf howls with joy. “Up you go,” he says as Erica and Scott grab his arms and help him, letting him lean on them for support. “If I had known you would have agreed to fight, I would have suggested you stay in and play video games or something.”

 

“It was Boyd’s idea.” Derek growls softly.

 

“I know. Lets go sit down, Leah will have the food ready shortly.”  

They sit at a huge wooden picnic table, that must be old because the wood is smooth, like it’s been toughed a thousand times and it’s so beautiful. Derek sits at the head of the table and motions for Stiles to sit as his left side. Scott sits on the right and Erica at his side. Isaac eventually staggers over and he’s healing a black eyes as he grins over at Scott. “My sister is quite the fighter isn’t she?” Derek’s looking over at her, kicking a sandy haired boy in the stomach.

 

“She’s definitely something.” Stiles mutters. “Did you win your fight, Isaac?” Isaac is now fully healed and grinning maniacally.

 

“Of course I did. Red’s a pretty good fighter, but he’s no good against me, I beat him every time. He got a good munch though. What about you?”

 

“Cora didn’t win,” Derek speaks up, “but she didn’t lose either. I stopped it. Stiles shouldn’t be fighting.”

 

“Why not?” Isaac asks, leering a bit at Derek.

 

“Because I said so.” Isaac nods, like that’s all he needs to know and strikes up a conversation with Scott.

 

“Boyd says, you weren’t always an Alpha.” Stiles says, he watches Derek closely, but he doesn’t react, just watches his sister beat down the boy swiftly.

 

“Boyd has been talking a lot today.” Is all Derek says.

 

“Is it true?” Stiles can’t keep the curiosity out of his voice, he wants to know. Part of him wants to know everything about the Alpha and how exactly he got his title.

 

“I think we both have secrets that we aren’t going to tell one another.” Derek looks over at Stiles, a brow raised and he tries to slow down his heart rate, but of course Derek notices it.“We’ll talk about it over dinner.” He turns back to watching his sister who has moved on to a blond haired girl, who has her claws out and her eyes are flashing blue.

 

Stiles watches, but he doesn’t really watch, his mind is going through everything that Derek could know. The only thing he can think of is that he knows he’s an Omega, knows Stiles deepest secret that he’s managed to hide for seventeen years. Seventeen long years of hiding and Derek figured it out within a few weeks. There is no way that is possible. When did Stiles slip up? What did he do that Derek caught on? Did he say something? Does he just know? That’s impossible, if he just knew, others would have been able to tell, but they hadn’t, no one but Derek. Maybe he can play it off, maybe he can leave.” He glances around the yard, there are wolves everywhere, if he could make it to the little play area he could slip off into the woods and run and hope he made it far enough for Derek to stop looking and then hopefully find a way into the Southern States. Stiles starts to stand up, but Derek’s large hand on his thigh keeps him sitting.

 

“Stay here, Leah has the food.” Stiles can see the back door opening and Leah and the other Omegas walking out to place the food on top of the table.

 

“I have to go pee.” he says weakly, staring at the back of Derek’s head since he hadn’t even bothered to turn around to talk to him.

 

When he does turn to face Stiles, he can see the Alpha’s red eyes boring into his own. “I said, stay here.” His voice is deep and commanding and the pressure on his thigh increases, just a little bit more, and it’s not all that unpleasant.

 

“Yeah. Okay.” He gulps, Derek doesn’t move his hand until all of his Betas are seated at the table, the Omegas are standing around it, watching everyone.

 

Derek stands, looks at Stiles, then looks towards all of his Betas. “I have news about the war.” he begins and Stiles breath catches. “My uncle tells me they are close to defeat.” Stiles can feel the tension in the air. “As you all know, I have nothing to do with that, but I still need to stay on my Uncle’s good side, so that if they do manage to win, we will be protected.” Stiles can see Leah step up and begin to say something with Derek silences her with a hand. “Wait. Peter is going to stay here for a few days, go over some things with me, I need you all to act accordingly. The Omegas need to act like slaves, you do whatever the Betas ask, without question. Leah, do not speak to my Uncle.” she nods and Stiles wants to know the story behind that. “Scott and Isaac you are to make sure you know of his whereabouts at all times, and he doesn’t need to know about it, understood?” The nod grimly. “Betas, I’m sure you all know how to act, Peter is your superior and we do not want to anger him, but you listen to me first. Understood?” Everyone nods and Stiles can’t take this, what the hell is going on and why does one of the leaders of the war want to come here and talk to Derek?

 

“Your Uncle is Peter Hale. One of the Alphas who started this war?” Derek turns his attention to Stiles, a hard expression firmly in place. “I should have known this was all too good to be true. You are just like every other Alpha outhere!” Stiles yells and he wants to punch Derek, but he also doesn’t want to break his hand because that jaw has to be made out of steel. “I’m leaving.” Stiles shoves his chair back and stands, he’s about to turn and run when Derek grips his elbow, roughly.

 

“You are going to stay here.” Derek is squeezing a bit too hard, but Stiles doesn’t want to shake him off and provoke him further. “Stiles, there are going to Alphas here in three days and I know you aren’t a Beta. You are an Omega.” Stiles squeezes his eyes shut, this can not be happening. “And I know you are coming into your Heat, I can smell it, so can my Betas, and if they can an Alpha a mile away can smell it, you’ll be a walking target.”

 

“So I’m just supposed to stay here and be your slave?” His voice doesn’t crack and any other time he would be proud of that, but Derek knows, he knows and Stiles is sure this isn’t going to end good.

 

“I don’t have slaves. I let Peter think I have slaves. It’s called being smart, Stiles. If the Alphas win, we continue as we are, pretending the Omegas are slaves when an Alpha visits. If the Omegas win, which I want to happen, they are free to go and I will let them go, just as I’ll let you go, but not until this war ends.” Derek lets go of his hold and runs his hand soothingly along the flesh. “I am not one of those Alphas, but you don’t understand, my Uncle is -”

 

And then it hits Stiles. Derek Hale. Hale. Derek is a Hale. There were only four surviving members of the Hale family, after a rival Alpha family burned them all to the ground. Peter. Laura. Derek. Cora. The four survivors and one of them is one of the leaders of the war, it was said that the fire was accidental, but further examination showed that it had been planned out, a ring of wolfsbane was spread around the house. They never caught the person(s) that did it, but after that Peter had showed a big interest in the war and quickly rose through the ranks. Now he’s one of the most powerful Alphas in the war, going from town to town and taking them over easily. Stiles hates him, hates him with his very being.

 

“I can’t stay here til the end of the war, that could be years!” Years that he needs to spend trying to help the Omegas, he needs to something besides sit around and wait for one side to win. “You need to do something, if you want the Omegas to win, you could help.”

 

“And turn against one of my only relatives, not likely. I do not agree with my uncle, but I do not want to be the cause of his demise either.” Derek has taken his arm away. “At least stay here until your heat passes and Peter is gone, then, then we’ll figure something out, just stay.”

 

“What am I going to do about my Heat? I can’t just walk around the house, that would be a little awkward.” Stiles glances to the Betas, who have all averted their eyes so he can’t see any of them.

 

“You have some options.” Derek says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](http://thewolvesaregone.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> You can always prompt me on [Tumblr](http://thewolvesaregone.tumblr.com)


End file.
